The standard treatment for traumatic injuries to limb areas with large amounts of bleeding is to apply a tourniquet until proper medical treatment such as surgery can be performed. However the process of stopping the bleeding with a traditional tourniquet often requires stopping all blood flow to any bodily region subsequent to the limb. If left unchecked, such cessation of blood flow can cause necrosis of tissues, nerve damage, and even result in limb death resulting in amputation.
Therefore, when using a tourniquet, trained personnel are taught to periodically release the pressure to let a small amount of blood through to keep the downstream tissues supplied with oxygenated blood. Unfortunately, in many emergency situations, there is either no one or to few people present to continuously monitor the pressure of a tourniquet. Similar problems exist in large trauma centers, on ambulances, and military combat situations.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which a tourniquet can be monitored in an automatic and foolproof manner. The use of the tourniquet device provides the ability to stop excessive bleeding in limb areas in emergency situations without worry of causing additional injuries due to necrosis.